Andrew McLaughlin, the Google general counsel senior policy counsel, who supposedly said that the FCC sucks says he was totally misquoted by Light Reading. He posted his response to my previous post on this subject.
…. I didn’t say that the FCC sucks. Rather, the opposite. What I did at the VON panel was list the 5 top arguments of libertarian opponents of Net Neutrality. Number 5 on that list: The FCC sucks, and can’t be trusted to regulate in a lighthanded way. Note: Not my argument. Rather, that’s the other side’s argument, and the one that has to be addressed by proponents of Net Neutrality (like me!). I even later joked about the inevitability of being misquoted. And yes, sure enough.
Well, in that case, my apologies Mr. McLaughlin, and I hope Mark Sullivan, the Light Reading reporter chimes in with his side of the story.
Sucks? What kind of an inarticulate poo-poo head talks like that?
I think the rest of his quote is worth mentioning
It is also worth mentioning that on lightreading the paragraph following the quote mentions that he was attributing the ideas to others. However, the way those paragraphs are written in lightreading is certainly sensationalizing the episode and leads the reader to misinterpretation (particularly the title).
That said, kudos to Om for posting your mistake in such a transparent way. It is nice to see all the history of the mistake posted right in the blog entry so that checking it out is only a click away.
I always use tape in an interview. I learned that tool back when UPI was a real news service. My bet is that the quote is reasonably accurate.
The best news quote I ever read was in the Wall Street Journal aand began like this … “I wouldn’t want to be quoted on this in the Wall Street Journal…
Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer points out that the truth is always less than the facts.
Agreed. Thanks for pointing out the facts Om. It’s rare. I doubt LR would do so.
I should have been more clear. I meant to say it’s rare to see corrections in the media and to thank you as we weren’t likely to see a correction made elsewhere.
thanks victor. clearly, when you are wrong you are just wrong. and that includes linking to someone who is wrong.
i have always tried to use the same rules of engagement on the blog as i do in my journalist life. of course to not do that would mean disrespecting the readers who spend time here.